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  • September 24, 2021
  • Article
  • Harvard Business Review Digital Articles

A Labor Movement for the Platform Economy

By: Li Jin, Scott Duke Kominers and Lila Shroff
  • Format:Electronic
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Abstract

Platforms are fundamentally changing the contract between workers and companies—and the workers and creatives that create value for platform companies, and rely on platforms for their livelihoods, often have little power when it comes to getting their concerns addressed. In the face of this, a new form of collective labor activism tailored to the gig and creator economies is emerging: decentralized collective action (DCA). Mixing methods of traditional organizing with new approaches—from manipulating algorithms to deploying blockchain powered decentralized solutions—workers are using DCA to try to rewrite the rules of platform work.

Keywords

Gig Workers; Decentralized Collective Action; Internet and the Web; Labor; Labor and Management Relations; Digital Platforms

Citation

Jin, Li, Scott Duke Kominers, and Lila Shroff. "A Labor Movement for the Platform Economy." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (September 24, 2021).
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About The Author

Scott Duke Kominers

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • Collusion in Brokered Markets By: John William Hatfield, Scott Duke Kominers and Richard Lowery
  • Harvard Students Should Ignore Calls to Boycott Israel Trek By: Jesse M. Fried, Paul A. Gompers, Scott Kominers and Mark C. Poznansky
  • O2X: Optimizing to the X By: Scott Duke Kominers, Thomas Jennings and Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon
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